After discovering the freelancing world as a way to finance her studies, Reizel Sales started her online career in 2010. She found her first outreach job in 2013 and is now the Outreach Coordinator Heroic Search, a digital PR agency specializing in SEO, link building and content marketing services across web design and social media.

Reizel shared her insights with us on optimizing your company’s online presence for maximum reach, engagement and visibility in today’s digital age.

Web design? It’s pretty important. Good web design makes it easy for your customers to make it around your website. It aligns with your brand and it boosts your SEO efforts.

It also helps to build trust with your audience.

Social media is pretty damn important too.

Chances are that most, if not all of your customers, are on social media. This is why your web design needs to complement your social media strategy in 2018.

How? Let’s take a look.

Display Your Social Media Sites

If you’re on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc, it’s important that your site visitors know this. To let them know which social media profiles you have, all you need to do is add the relevant social media icons to your website. It’s that simple.

Want them to engage with your social media sites? Add a call-to-action that directs them to your pages. For example:

“Like our stuff? Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and spread the word!”

Add Social Share Buttons to Your Site

The valuable thing about social media is that it allows content to go viral. And viral marketing is awesome. If your site goes viral, you could increase your organic traffic over time.

As well as creating content that’s insanely shareable in the first place, you need to add social share buttons next to your content so that people can easily share things they like.

When adding social share buttons next to your content, it’s important that you take into consideration the positioning of your buttons. Studies have shown that site visitors have no issue with sharing content without reading it first, therefore placing social share buttons at the top of your content may lead to more shares. As other studies have shown, 59% of us share content based on the headline alone.

As well as getting the positioning of your buttons right, make sure they’re big enough to be noticed. And don’t forget to add share counters as these demonstrate social proof. If 455 people have already shared an article, it validates the next person’s decision to share it, too.

Add Facebook Reviews

Online reviews are becoming more and more important. 90% of us say that an online review impacts our buying decision. If your web design incorporates Facebook reviews, it gives you credibility and helps build trust among people who have never came into contact with your brand.

There is an element of risk that comes with adding Facebook reviews to your site – what if there are negative reviews? There likely will be. In such instances, the best thing to do is to reply to the review(s) calmly and considerately, address the issue, and let the customer know you’re aware of it. If the customer has a point, tell them you will make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Whatever you do, don’t ignore bad reviews. That can hurt your decision to integrate your web design with social media much more.

If you are using WordPress for your website, try the cool WP Facebook Review Slider plugin to display the reviews. It’s free!

Add Your Logo Everywhere

People buy from brands they recognize and trust.

Easiest way to be recognized? Create a company logo that people will remember – and then add it to your website and all your social media accounts. The more you can get your logo in front of people’s eyes, the more recognizable you will become.

Think Apple and McDonald’s. They have both created iconic logos that have stood the test of time and are recognizable around the globe.

Not sure how to create a logo? Worried it will cost too much? Try Shopify’s logo maker, it lets even amateurs create a cool logo in minutes.

These are just 4 ways web design complements your social media strategy. Got any tips of your own? Share this article with your own tips for driving digital success for your start-up.

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